Biography and Articles

Monday, June 30, 2014

I am in Sharm El sheikh in Egypt with my sister for a week. We get limited Internet here, but other than that no complaints. We are staying at mirabel Jaz hotel here. The hotel is ok but covers a large area which means you need to do a lot of walking in the heat. So far I am not burned, but surely darker. I can't bear to be in the sun for more than 5 minutes. But then I am watching all those British people sit in the sun all day until they roast. My sister does not understand, but then she has never been to England and does not know that British people come here to get a year supply of sun. They don't see it there. Seems like mostly Russian and British people here. I made my sister go on the parachute and the banana boat. It was a lot of fun. Today we saw a dolphin show. The hotel is on the beach and you have to walk 2 miles into the beach to get to the place where you can see the fish. We finally walked it today only to find that there were no steps from the walkway down to the water. My sister did not want to go down but I did. There were lots of waves and it was really not safe. But the fish was totally worth it. The wave hit me into the pole then I could not get back onto the walkway. Down was easy but up was not possible. My sister did not have the strength to lift me. we pleaded for rescue from a strong guy. Made it up with a few scratches. Still totally worth it. Yesterday we went to Soho. Shopping area and a dancing fountain. Fun but I am exhausted now. And soar all over. I need to rest more!

I lost 10 pounds or so in the last few weeks. I am trying to gain those back while here. We eat 5 meals a day. The hotel's food is great. Like so many varieties of salad and deserts. I miss being hungry. Ha ha. They have a new varity of food every day. How can they have so many dishes?Let me see if I can post pictures on Facebook later. This is not working from this crazy Internet.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

I have been thinking a lot about the situation here. Things are getting worse and what is happening here seem so unreal. I often wonder what would happen if it was another country doing this. What if the actions done by the Israelis were done by another nation, like France or Egypt or Lebanon?What would the world do if one country one day decided to do the following:(1) Build a 20-foot wall across towns and surrounding towns preventing civilians from getting to their jobs and schools. Below is a picture of me by the wall...(2) Kill at least one person a day that is under 18 just because he/she were demonstrating.Below is a picture of Nisreen Hash-hash who was shot in the face by Israeli soldiers:Below is a picture of Ahmad and his mother as they mourn the death of his father who was shot in Ramallah yesterday:

(3) Invade homes at night breaking doors, terrorizing people, breaking furniture and tearing the place apart...and then arrest children and men from the home.Soldiers invading a Palestinian city this past week:

A Palestinian child being arrested:(4) Torture prisoners in every possible inhumane way.(5) Prevent people from leaving their cities.(6) Prevent garbage trucks from taking the garbage out of the cities causing the garbage to gather in the streets.(7) Cut the water from cities causing many to have no water during these hot summer months.(8) Claim the land and homes of people taking them by force. With no compensation and no prior notice.(9) Demolish 27,000 homes for no obvious reason.(10) Make people leave their country then deny them the right of return to their country even just for a visit.(11) Forbid people from having the chance to fly out of their own airport.

The list could go on and on...I'll stop here...Really, what would the USA and others do if one country (OTHER THAN ISRAEL) did these things to it's people? Would they send troupes in, or impose sanctions on that country? What do you think?

No matter how loud we speak, it still seems like people either don't know what is going on here or refuse to know. The Israeli soldiers have been invading our towns every night, breaking into homes and tearing them apart. They arrested many and killed a few. There are demonstrations that go on daily...which, to me, is good because it means that the people here are at least resisting what is going on. For a while people here even lost their desire to resist. They would say 'What is the point, no matter what we do, Israel still does what it wants.' The best way to resist I think is to let the world know what is going on here...and hope that somewhere somehow someone with a conscience still exists out there. Someone who will have an influence to decide that this must stop.Today I took a friend of mine to show him a refugee camp (bad mistake--you don't do that with the situation here as it is). We ended up almost in the middle of a demonstration. An angry soldier started to point his gun at my car demanding that I should leave. I quickly turned around and left. Luckily we got out fast enough because soldiers in such situations shoot first and ask questions later...Today I looked online for the basic human rights that everyone in the world enjoys (or hope everyone enjoys)...I would like to list a few below and tell you why my people don't have these 19 human rights. This does not mean they have the other human rights which are not listed here, but for the sake of time I chose a few...

Human Rights and Palestinians

I got a summary of the Human Rights that every individual
should enjoy no matter where they live. I tried to relate them to our lives as
Palestinians. Normally, when there is this much violation in human rights we
would see UN forces go into the country and try and put things in order. But,
not in our case. The international community does nothing, and even supports
what Israel does to the Palestinians. Here are some of the Human rights (19 out
of the 30) and facts about the situation here:

(to put some context, Palestine and Israel are the same
country. I will use Palestine to refer to the Holy Land, or Israel as many tend
to call it).

Article

Human Right

How the Law is applied to Palestinians

Article 1

Right to Equality

Jews who were born outside Palestine and lived all their lives in
other countries have automatic right to reside in Palestine and have
automatic [Israeli] citizenship. Palestinians who have lived here in
Palestine for generations are refugees and therefore not allowed to come here
even for a visit. Do you know anyone who is not allowed anymore to visit the
country where they, their parents and grandparents were born and lived?

Jews here in Palestine can live wherever they want even if it in
someone else’s house and land. Palestinians here can live anywhere they want,
but as long as the place they choose is in the selected 8% of their country
behind a wall…See we have equality!

Article 2

Freedom from Discrimination

Palestinian Muslims are not allowed entrance at specific checkpoints but sometimes Christians are allowed. Palestinian men are not allowed to pray at
Al-Aqsa mosque while Women are. Palestinians are not allowed into certain
areas of the country while Jews can.

Article 3

Right to Life, Liberty, Personal Security

Liberty? What’s that. We are surrounded by walls on all sides and
checkpoints. Our travel is controlled by the Israeli soldiers. We are free to travel in our neighborhood,
so we must have liberty, right? Security…umm does that mean that when they
shoot at you and you don’t get hit then you are secure? What about when they
enter your home at 2 am and search it and break everything and beat you up,
but you survive? What about them
shooting at your house at night, but you are under the bed and don’t get
killed? Does that make you secure? If not, that means we have no personal security.

Article 5

Freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment

Well, what kind of torture? Does daily humiliation at checkpoints and
waiting at checkpoints for hours count? What about torture in Israeli jails?
Probably too sensitive to share information here about what Israelis do to
Palestinian prisoners. But, my late brother in law was forced to wear a stinky
garbage bag and stand while tied up in a closet for days. A small enough
closet that he could not sit down even. He had to go to the bathroom right
there in his clothes while standing. This was actually the least amount of
torture prisoners had. Letters to family were not allowed, so released
prisoners had to swallow letters and get them out of their stool the next day
to deliver them to families of other prisoners.

Article 6

Right to Recognition as a Person before the law

You mean we are people? I had no idea. I always thought we were not
because of the way we are treated. We must be aliens or something. Palestinians can be held in Israeli Jails
for 6 months with no trial at all. They can be beaten, shot and arrested for
no reason by the soldiers. See, just like people go hunting for deer…we are
kind of the same.

Article 7

Right to Equality before the Law

Well, if you are not a person then what equality are we talking
about? Naturally Palestinians are not treated as equals to anyone because we
are not treated as humans.

Article 8

Freedom from Arbitrary arrest and exile.

Palestinians (of any age) can be arrested at any time and any place
for no particular reason. Over 9000 Palestinians under the age of 18 have
been arrested in the past two years. There are over 5 million Palestinians
who are in exile, not allowed to return back to their home land and live
here.

Article 10

Right to Fair Public Hearing

Palestinians can be held at Israeli jails for no reason without a
hearing for up to 6 months. After the 6 months they have the right to be
released and arrested again the next day.

Article 11

Right to be Considered Innocent until Proven Guilty

Nope, that law is reversed. Palestinians have the right to be
considered guilty until proven innocent. An Israeli soldier would shoot a Palestinian
if he suspects that that Palestinian has bad intentions. He can shoot them
first then search them and see if they have any weapons. The law here is
shoot first, ask questions later.

Article 13

Right to Free Movement in and out of the Country

We are still fighting for the right for free movement in and out of
our towns.

Article 14

Right to Asylum in other Countries from Persecution

Unfortunately Palestinians don’t have that option as many countries
won’t even let Palestinians in as tourists. Palestinians are considered
terrorists by many countries.

Article 15

Right to a Nationality and the Freedom to Change It

‘What’s your nationality?’ The officer at airports would ask me. I
would stare him. He would repeat the question thinking I did not understand.
No sir, we don’t have a nationality. I can tell you I am Palestinian, but
there is really no country called Palestine so obviously that is not a valid
answer. We live in the state of Israel established over our country
Palestine, but we don’t have Israeli citizenship.

Article 17

Right to Own Property

Yup we actually have that right. We can own property as much as we
want. But, the Israelis have the right to take that property any time they
choose to without prior notice and without any compensation. 27,000
Palestinian homes were demolished by the Israelis since 1967. This does not
include homes being bombed by Israeli forces. Israel has over 165 settlements
(towns) that are built on confiscated Palestinian land.

Article 18

Freedom of Belief and Religion

For years I sneaked into Jerusalem risking arrest in order to go to
church because the Israeli authorities did not allow me into Jerusalem (and
the only branch for my LDS church was in Jerusalem). Note that I was born in
Jerusalem, so that is my home town. But, as a Palestinian I am not allowed in
anymore.

As for Palestinians Muslims, they are not allowed to go to Jerusalem to
pray (The Aqsa mosque is a holy site for the Muslims).

Article 19

Freedom of Opinion and Information

Umm opinion to what? We have no say in any decisions whatsoever. Sure
we have the right to protest, but we also have the right to be killed just
merely for going on a peaceful march to protest.

Article 20

Right of Peaceful Assembly and Association

Palestinians are not familiar with the word ‘peace’ so we can’t
answer to this article.

Article 21

Right to Participate in Government and in Free Elections

This article would assume you have a government. Well, we don’t have
one of those. Because to have a government would imply that you have a
country and our country has been taken from us.

Article 25

Right to Adequate Living Standards

Even though we live in the same country, the Israeli poverty line is
about 4500 NIS/Month. An average Palestinian makes 2500 NIS/month. So, we
should all be poor according to Israeli standards (?)

Article 26

Right to Education

Palestinians have that, but may also have their education stopped by the
Israeli soldiers anytime. As a
freshman, my university (and others in the country) were closed by Israeli
military order because the Israelis killed one of the Palestinian students by
shooting him in the head. It makes sense, right? (I am being sarcastic as you
can tell)

Sunday, June 15, 2014

With everything going on here and with things starting to stir up again I thought that was a good title to this post. I thought writing about happiness and charity was appropriate. (in case you didn't know what was going on: 3 Israeli settlers went missing. Israeli soldiers have been invading various Palestinian cities and arresting many Palestinians. Israel says those settlers were kidnapped by people from Hamas, but nothing is for sure yet).I finally got some free a few days ago. I checked my calender and found out I had two weeks before I was to leave. Where did time go? I leave on the 26th of June (now it is less than 2 weeks). My feelings of frustration turned to panic. I must be nuts! I mean I have 2 weeks to prepare 14 Sunday School lessons and 6 talks. How come I didn't realize this sooner? So, I have been preparing 3 lessons each day. I never thought I would be tired of preparing Sunday School lessons...but it is getting a bit exhausting! I think mostly I will prepare in Utah before I actually teach the lessons since I will probably not remember much from my preparation now especially with my bad memory.For those of you who are planning to have me speak at your ward/stake, please don't freak out. I promise that with lots of prayers and hard work I can make this work! I am really looking forward to it and I am sure it will be a good experience. I guess if all else fails I have 24 hours on a plane! (Just kidding, I'll have something prepared before then)So, needless to say I have been running around like a crazy person trying to finish everything I need to do. Luckily World Vision told me that they wanted to postpone my job start date. Yay, I won't have to worry about starting a new job before I leave to the US. I also may end up doing some work for UNRWA on the side when I get back, but nothing is for sure. At least I feel I have something to come back to in August instead of more hours of sitting at home. Not that I don't enjoy being busy doing nothing, but, you know, I gotta make some money eventually!Let me share an experience with you. My friend told me the other day that she felt that she needed to remind me of the scripture: "Men [and women] are that they might have joy." She said she was cleaning when she saw my face and felt that Heavenly Father wanted me to know this. She said that Heavenly Father wanted me to know that He would like me to be happy; that I don't have to do it all and don't have to sacrifice my own happiness.That really meant a lot to me. First to know that Heavenly Father cares about me enough to send me a message and then to know that He truly cares about my happiness. It is true, I have not been completely happy. With all my crazy busy time these days I had forgotten to enjoy life.After this, I started trying to focus more and work harder. I am really finding out that life is simple and can be enjoyed. I think the key there is love...It makes a big difference once we come to a realization that we are loved. When I was reminded of Heavenly Father's love and His genuine interest in my happiness, it made a difference. We are all loved by our Heavenly Father. He cares about each of us and is aware of all our needs. He tries hard to meet those needs in the way that is best for us. His goal is to help us all find true joy; the fullness of joy He has. My lesson in Primary this week was about gratitude. The children mentioned things that Heavenly Father gave us and among those, were flowers and butterflies. When you think about it, the Lord did not need to create these things. He could have just sent us to a world which had fruit trees (so we can eat)...But instead He made a beautiful world so we can enjoy it and find happiness.There are many in our branch that are struggling financially. Some are not able to put any food on their table. I always worry about them wondering how I can help. My friend always reminds me that the best thing I can do is to love them. Today I realized that she was right. As I spoke with one sister today, I realized that she knew that I loved her. And because of that she felt secure and happy in her life despite the fact that they have no money at all. One of the children in primary today wrote me a thank you card and then later came up to me and said: "I love you!" I also realized that the children know that I love them and that helps them feel secure as well. As one of my firesides is about Charity, I have been reading a lot about that recently. Everything I read mentions how essential charity is. I think today I finally realized why. Really, the need we have inside of us to feel loved is so important. For those who still are not aware of the amazing love their Father in Heaven has for them, it is so essential that we show them our love. Our genuine love for them will lift them up and strengthen them even if we can offer them nothing else at their time of need. Hopefully, one day they will realize that they have a Savior who loved them enough that He was willing to die for them and they will allow Him to lift their burden.Among his last words, Mormon tells us:

"And
charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up,
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth
not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all
things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have
not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto
charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

But charity is the pure love of Christ, and
it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it
shall be well with him."

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto
the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love,
which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus
Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we
may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

May we all seek after Charity, the pure love of Christ. May we allow the Savior to teach us how to love others perfectly as He does.

I love you all and am grateful for your great example of charity. Each of you taught me a lot about this great attribute.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Anyone have any idea how to develop patience because I seem to have lost every bit of patience I have. I am so glad I will be going on vacation soon because I feel I am about to explode. (You would think I have been working full-time to need a vacation!!) Everything these days irritates me. And for those of you who STILL think I am wonderful, you should re-consider. Don't get me wrong, everything is going well. I am really blessed and I have everything I could ever ask for. So, I am really not complaining about my situation. I don't need anything..I really don't know the reason for this lack of patience! Even failing to relax is not the reason because yesterday I went to the dead sea with my sisters and we spent the whole day relaxing.Is there like a patience Gene? because my whole family seems to lack patience. I consider myself on top of the scale when I compare myself to like my mom or sister. My mom can only wait 5 seconds (I am serious) then she gets so upset! For those of you doctors, I'll donate myself to medical research...my family could be the key to discovering a medicine that gives patience =)I think the job offer with World Vision is almost sure now although I still have not heard from them regarding the salary. The guy said I should be starting today, but did not call me to confirm. So, naturally I am not at work today. Which is kind of good because I have a million things I am trying to get done in the next couple of weeks before I leave.My hip pain has been much better (not totally improved). It hurts still when I sit, but nothing as bad as it used to. I am still not sure if the pain will increase or if it will go away completely, but hopefully I won't have lots of pain during my trip.So, as you see all is well...I think I am just overloaded and have a lot on my mind. I may try today to sort through things and get a bit organized so I can feel better about things.I will be leaving Palestine on the 26th of June. I will go to Egypt with my sister then from there to the US. My schedule has not changed, same as in the previous blog post. I was debating whether or not to post my email on my blog, and I guess it would be OK. If you need a contact number while I am in the US you can use my magic jack number which I won't post here. But, if you want it, please email me and I will send that to you. Notice that I won't know that you called me on my magic jack unless you leave a message and you will have to let it ring like 10 times before you can leave a message.My brother Maher just left back to the US. My mother's health is a bit more stable and her doctor even thinks that she does not take any insulin for her diabetes. He said it is not that bad...So, she is just watching what she eats and taking care of herself.My brother's new pet is a type of bird (Quail I think?). A new addition to his spiders, snakes, lizards...etc. Below is a picture of it, kind of small, but darn noisy. He won't stop squealing (as I am going to call it). Actually, the bird may have something to do with my irritable nerves lately, don't you think? How would you like something squealing 24 hours a day next to your window? My brother now takes the bird into the basement at night, but it is a long process to catch him and lock him up each night then set him loose again. (The bird is left of the green thing)

We had a visit from Elder Price to our little church branch on Saturday. It was nice to see him again. We have been working on reverence with the kids and have been trying hard to get them to be quiet during the church meeting. It didn't quite work, but we had a good meeting altogether. I consider it an accomplishment when one of our most challenging kids sits quietly during the sacrament and folds arms during prayers. We are getting somewhere!I am still unsure as to where I will stay during my trip. I only need places to stay for the Provo days. I will be contacting some of you to let you know (for those that have kindly offered their home). Sorry it is taking me a while to figure things out.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

It has been a busy week (I seem to say that a lot lately). Really, how can someone who does not work be so busy? Strange huh?My mom has not been doing well. I won't share much of the details of what she has, but whatever the doctor gave her does not seem to be working. Her blood sugar also has increased a lot. She probably needs to start taking insulin. But, she won't go see just any doctor regarding that and insists on going to this one doctor who only comes here to the clinic on Friday. She has been tired and barely gets out of bed. I've been taking her back and forth to hospitals doing some tests and seeing doctors. Hopefully we will get all this resolved. The good thing is that although she has Hepatitis C and has not been taking any medication for it (due to her age and health) her liver is fine. The tests for the liver show no problems at all. As for me, I am sticking with this one doctor. I am tired of taking the opinion of multiple doctors. My pain is almost invisible when I take the medication, but afterwards I still have pain. It seems to be getting better though (the pain is less). Yesterday I took the last pill and I will wait and see what will happen without any pain medication. I am really hoping I will be fine when I take that long flight to the US. Sitting bothers me a lot. I can't sit for more than a few minutes before starting to have pain in my thigh and lower back.Anyway, enough about sickness and doctors! I am trying to prepare for my trip to the US, but can't seem to find any time. I really hope all of those waiting to hear my firesides will not just sit and look at a silent person...I guess if all else fails I will use the 20 hours on the flight/layovers to prepare. Just kidding, really I promise that I am already thinking and praying about what I will speak about. Hopefully those sweet people who have made the effort to organize all those firesides and talks won't be disappointed. Thank you all. I appreciate the love and trust you have in me. I am looking forward to seeing all of you.On Friday we went to Bethlehem University and attended a ceremony where my brother Mazin signed a memorandum of understanding with the university. My brother will donate a large sum of money to the university for the establishment of a Natural History museum (the first of it's kind in Palestine--and actually in other Arab countries). My brother loves animals. When I was a child he would take me and my cousin with him on his hikes and expeditions in nature where he would study bats, mice, insects and other types of Animals. He has put so much effort into this. It has been his dream to see this museum established. This dream started as he was inspired by my uncle Sana Atallah who was working towards that goal in the 1960's, but was tragically killed in a car accident in Iran in 1970. I never got to meet him. He was famous at the time in his field. He even has a rabbit species named after him (Atallahi Rabbit).This is a picture of some of the many articles written in papers about my uncle when he died in 1970. It is not a great camera that I took this with in addition to an old article...sorry.

Yesterday there was an article in the local paper about my brother Mazin. Note that the article has one mistake is that it mentions that my uncle Sana died in Lebanon when in fact he died in Iran.

Here is an updated calendar for my trip if you are interested. I will add more info when I have it.